The Collapse of Melbourne's King Street Bridge

You may have heard about the devastating collapse of the West Gate Bridge. But did you know that there was another bridge that also collapsed in Melbourne just a few years earlier?
Sources listed here: philam.github.io/videonotes/k...
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MORE INFORMATION
Idiot's Weekly radio show, "The King's Bridge Saga" www.radioechoes.com/?page=pla...
My website: philipmallis.com
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I acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which this video was filmed, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people. I pay respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and their extensive and continuing connection to land, water and country.

[@letsseeif]

My grandfather predicted the King Street Bridge collapse. As a welding expert who had worked at Vickers Ruwolt and the Newport Railway Depot Grandad had by then retired. However his fascination for the intricacies of welding had him visit the King Street Bridge sight every day he could. When the bridge was nearing completion, Granddad told my Nana that The King Street Bridge was bound to collapse. He even knew where the collapse would occur. So in our household no-one was surprised when the collapse occurred. Granddad had been vindicated. However he was a humble quiet man who (to my young mind) had completed his mission.

[@ceebee23]

Amazing how many similar disasters have been foreseen by experts ...who are often ignored or ridiculed if they speak out. Your grandfather clearly knew his welding!

[@itsamemario8014]

Vickers Ruwolt not Roualt.

[@letsseeif]

@@itsamemario8014 Yes. I know how to spell Ruwolt. Thanks for pointing out my accidental misspelling. thanks again. 🙂 p.s, I corrected my post.

[@boss290t]

I have been told multiple times by numerous people that the Westgate Bridge is a disaster waiting to happen. The high tensile bolts snap weekly and are replaced weekly at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars

[@letsseeif]

@@itsamemario8014 Thanks for the correction. I appreciate it. Thanks again.

[@out_spocken]

'At first they were 3 months behind schedule, but with hard work and government planning they were soon 6 months behind' God damn that sums up Melbourne STILL to this day!

[@1greenMitsi]

such a shame for demolishing the melbourne fishmarket, looked like another iconic old structure that shouldve been saved

[@JamesHawkeYouTube]

they have hidden and lied about our true history.

[@mattaustin2128]

Nah, it was sinking on its foundations, stank like…a fish market, and was regarded at the time with the derision that we regard buildings from the 1950s.

[@somedumbozzie1539]

@@mattaustin2128 I grew up in Melbourne and there were a lot of buildings that looked good from a distance but up close they were a mess and beyond repair and it was where Flinders Street station now stands and it is a classic.

[@bushranger51]

Not really, Melbourne has always been in a state of flux, tearing down old delipidated structures and rebuilding into something new. It's supposedly called progress, the old fish market on that site was moved to Footscray, in the old Melbourne General Market on Dynon Rd, which has been closed and relocated out to Epping off Cooper Street.

[@ivanhajncl8833]

@@somedumbozzie1539 Quite Wrong Dumb Ozzie.. It was the other end of Flinders street - between King and Spencer street (near where the helipad now is) and a multi-storey car park now sits there with a curved south wall to fit snugly into the railway viaduct.

[@cyclemoto8744]

Thanks Phil, as a Melbournian of 46 years I had never heard of this event. Shame the bridge still looks as ugly as when it was first designed. Cheers

[@RichardFelstead1949]

I have a 45rpm record called "Saga of Kings Street Bridge", by the 3DB Happy Gang, sung to the tune of "London Bridge is falling down".Some of the cast were Bill Collins and Jack Perry who was one half of the "Zig and Zag" team. Their show morphed into "Sunnyside Up" tv show.

[@gregduncan3242]

I'm glad you mentioned Zig & Zag. As a young boy I was convinced that they were responsible for the collapse 😂

[@MrPropanePete]

I remember them well.. "No trouble"...

[@normandiebryant6989]

They WERE responsible! The bridge just wasn't designed for opening coconuts on the railing!

[@pvda64]

From Wikipedia; To the TV generation of impressionable children, they are remembered as the slightly naughty duo who broke the King Street Bridge: after a structural failure in July 1962 they filmed a segment for their show where they dropped a coconut and pretended to crack the bridge, albeit accidentally.

[@DeMews]

Zag was responsible for something else which led to the ending of the duo clown-ship.

[@_Only_Zuul]

I don't want to think about what Zig n Zag might have been doing on or underneath that bridge.. 🤔🤔🤔

[@jdillon8360]

Another interesting video Philip. Thank you! Lifelong Melbourne resident here, and I didn't know anything about this. Yes, please show us more about the history of the St Kilda Junction.

[@nurgspestilence9352]

Legendary work like usual Mr Mallis . Never knew about this incident and used to travel over this bridge daily for many years .

[@jezza71]

Thanks Phillip for this and your other videos. I spent my childhood going over that bridge visiting family and had never heard of the collapse until much later. Strange it didn't get a mention in the West Gate Bridge documentary (a far, far worse event obviously).

[@williamoreilly4479]

Nicely researched piece of Melbourne history. Well done. Memory is weird. I remember vividly the opening and “closing” of the King Street bridge. But I have no recollection of the fish market and its demolition. Nor do I recall what was there before the development of “Kingsway”.

[@gslim7337]

I remember at university hearing about the King Street Bridge collapse. Never quite knew the circumstances. That and West Gate I was told cemented Melbourne's reputation as the city of failed bridges. Something our current masters should think about

[@potatodealership8338]

I love how they do all this work and manage to make the freeways all 5 lanes each way, just to close 3 of them for no reason during peak hour.

[@errinundra9798]

As a small boy the Zig and Zag episode left quite an impression upon me. One of them broke the bridge by dropping a coconut on it.

[@philipmallis]

I wasn't able to find a copy or script anywhere of the episode, do you happen to know if there is any information on this?

[@errinundra9798]

@@philipmallis Just my fallible memory.

[@normandiebryant6989]

@@errinundra9798 No, you are right. They couldn't open their coconut so they went up the bridge with the coconut in a wheelbarrow and broke the bridge trying to crack it open on the railing. This rubbish about a heavy truck was just a cover up!

[@TheHsan22]

Correct, I remember the show…. Trying to crack the coconut and cracked the bridge instead…. and then quickly running off.

[@WeldinMike27]

We spoke about this in my welding inspection training. Low alloy steel wasn't very common and no one knew how to work with it.

[@NewFalconerRecords]

What a miracle that no one was hurt, let alone killed. An absolute clusterf*@k of incompetence and slackness. It had cracks in it even before the bridge was erected? Incredible! Great video once again.

[@AuMechanic]

My father an Engineer was Deputy Quality Assurance Manager at the Govt Aircraft Factories. Starting at CAC in the 50s and GAF until the 80s He told me about the King St bridge failure and that it was due to welds cracking and he explained the reason they had cracked was the welders did not know they had to pre heat the steel before welding and failed to do so resulting in the cracks. As an aside he was sitting in his office at GAF when the Westgate Bridge fell down next door, they thought it was an earth quake and all rushed the look out the windows to see the bridge had fallen.

[@bennuballbags2]

My grandpa was the Sergeant of Spotswood who received the cal and tried to send the message upstairs....youd never guess but the thought he was joking

[@normandiebryant6989]

I didn't realise they rebuilt much of the bridge. I knew they put reinforcing gussets or "trebbler plates" on critical bits and suspended massive concrete weights underneath to reduce the natural frequency because you can see them under the bridge today.

[@robcicero8530]

Thanks for posting this, Philip. Really interesting and no, I was unaware of this even happening.

[@KleosAu]

I had no idea about this, Thank you for bringing it to our attention 😊

[@retrothingz]

Lot of work going into these videos. Much appreciated.

[@rogerbradford6472]

Appreciate your effort and information but just clarification that the sagging occurred at the Southern end of the bridge in South Melbourne. The heavy truck was travelling northbound on rise from Kingsway. The River crossing and twin side lanes weren't effected. Thankyou for this video...a memory from my childhood.

[@jordansmith7182]

I was on the Wikipedia for this last week! So glad there's a full video now

[@Cheesychicken98]

This video is great! I never knew about the kingstreet overpass. Thanks!

[@philosophyfraillon9362]

They must have really enjoyed writing the insults in that report

[@Resenbrink]

So interesting - had never heard of this, thanks for posting it.

[@MrPropanePete]

This video is really well done. I remember clearly the day the King St bridge collapsed. It was the main talking point in Melbourne for a very long time. Graham Kennedy made jokes about it on his TV show "In Melbourne Tonight".

[@TheFinalMinutes]

I had no idea about that bridge! I'll be watching more of your channel, it looks fascinating!

[@scana1979]

The beams in the bridge were strengthened by tension rods running the length of the structure which are visible in some of your shots looking like water pipes running along the viaduct soffit.

[@petergunston3173]

Yes the steel beams were strengthened by steel cables bolted to the beams and put under tension. I believe this repair was designed by an old school mate the late Dr Allen Parkin from Monash University.

[@jamesgovett3225]

I can still remember as a young boy travelling over the railway viaduct many times on the old Tait trains between Spencer st and Flinders st stations and seeing the bridge closed to traffic at that time and all the controversy that went with it

[@adammurphy6845]

Never knew this Philip! Great video!

[@raymondwelsh6028]

9.00. I remember when I was young, it may have been on the show with Graham Kennedy, IMT or something. They sung the song King Street Bridge Is Falling Down to the song of London Bridge Is Falling Down. Love the original price quoted to within 16 shillings, they couldn’t even get that right.🇦🇺

[@dmystify1381]

...fascinating...Loved the fotos also....subbed.

[@nikitazaytsev6443]

Very interesting video! Great quality

[@mischk]

Great video Philip.

[@mce_AU]

I did not know about this and I have driven over that bridge literally 1000's of times going to and from work before I retired in 2021. You got me wondering about something you mentioned. Has anyone done a piece on the before, construction of and after of the St. Kilda Junction shown at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="480">8:00</a>. That would be really interesting and I don't think it has been done before. Cheers.

[@philipmallis]

Thanks and yes you're not the only one interested in a video on St Kilda Junction, I've had a few similar requests! It's in the works and on my list of videos to make next :)

[@mce_AU]

@@philipmallis Thanks Philip, that would be great.

[@thericesquad]

Its amazing what yt throws you. It was with delight I saw that pic of the junction. I was the last paper boy that worked the Junction hotel.

[@Resenbrink]

@@thericesquad Thats interesting, you must have lived nearby.

[@andrewwmitchell]

That was really interesting. Thanks.

[@DaleDix]

Victoria and dodgy contracts. Still going strong.

[@brucewilliams8714]

I used Queen's Road and Kingsway each day to get from South Melbourne to Maribyrnong for work and return. When the bridge was closed I had to switch to St Kilda Rd and Swanston Street. Big nuisance! Also, the Flinders Street hump (now demolished) over the bridge access at King Street was a total eyesore.

[@johnblackstock4092]

This problem was discussed when I went to trade school, as a Quality Failure. We were told they were to use expensive stainless steel-welding rods, but they use cheap welding rods in-stead. Somebody pocketed the difference. The rest you know.

[@musicalneptunian]

Great! I didn't know about this!

[@richardgerbes7509]

Thanks for the Local content! Love it!

[@davidwall7747]

At <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="468">7:48</a> (and earlier shots) you'll see two cars significantly DIP at a point in the roadway - certainly cause for investigation for me.

[@DeMews]

I remember that dip, been over it many a time. Just thought it was part and parcel of the bridge, never gave it a second thought.

[@EJP286CRSKW]

The same consulting engineer, Cecil Wilson, was in the dock at both Royal Commisions, King St and Westgate. Not good career moves.

[@Techno-Universal]

Never knew Johns And Waygood were also a steel fabrication company as I had always seen them as the biggest rival of Otis in Australia within the escalator and lift manufacturing industry until they were acquired by Boral in 1995! :)

[@maifantasia3650]

Perhaps this is the reason they became known as 'Johns NoGood.'

[@pvda64]

J&W also built the ABC AM Broadcast mast located between St Albans & Sydenham back in 1938 which is still used today to broadcast 3LO & Radio National on 621 & 774 kHz.

[@Hereford567]

I have an original print of the report. Bought it in a deceased estate auction.

[@NigelEmmerton]

And the way it still moves when a truck goes over it makes me think it could happen again

[@patrickbryant5224]

Immortalised in a song by the Idlers Five "Mel-Born and Sid-N-Eye".

[@BatCaveOz]

"The hit song King Street Bridge, by Bob King-Crawford" Those were different times...

[@villewintermaul1907]

Wonderful pronunciation of Batman... ive not heard that before 😅

[@bonza167]

as a child I remember well the zig and zag parody as it was hilarious. they dropped a coconut on the bridge and they thought that they broke the bridge.

[@caeserromerosorangewedges]

Zig and Zag bounced coconuts on the bridge just after it opened. That is what broke it.

[@meba109]

My Dad use to tell us this story Ray Noble is a Relative of ours :) :)

[@karlasmith]

Jock Holland, son of John, was a lecturer in the RMIT engineering department when I did my engineering degree. I remember he mentioned rebuilding the bridge often and was not fond of Utah…

[@a7128]

great work

[@knowthy-selftarot8982]

Yes

[@melindaharrington7588]

Thank you 🙂 👌

[@cudgee7144]

Good to see some things don't change and remain the same. 4 Things. The cost blow-out, double what was presented. Don't anybody, except any responsibility under any circumstances. Pass blame onto as many departments as possible. And finally, out source whatever you can on the cheap to maximize profits. 60 years later we have not come very far, very sad.

[@Rube2017]

Hi. I've been enjoying some of your videos this week and wondered if you knew anything about the Brunswick ropewalk. Building facade looks like 1930s build

[@philipmallis]

Hi Paul, thanks! I'm not familiar with that site, but I did find this heritage report which includes some details. Hope it helps: www.merri-bek.vic.gov.au/globalassets/areas/strategic-planning/brunswick-29-dawson-street-ropworks-citation.pdf

[@ceebee23]

A classic case of outsourcing .. no one taking responsibility .... delays causing rushed work ... failed supervision and ultimately failure of the structure... how many times has this happened across the building industry ... the final cost must have been two or three times the original estimate.... not to mention the oct to South Melbourne in increased through traffic ...so convenient when you want to push freeways through the city.

[@Mackarony5]

Fascinating!!

[@spanningbridges]

Ah yes… the often forgotten bridge collapse in Melbourne. Plenty of lessons to be learnt here to hopefully never happen again.

[@jonknight2774]

this is what happens in a country that simply pays lip service to standards rather than enforcing them. far cheaper to give the impression of quality than to actually deploy it. nothings changed. look at our building standards, our air quality standards (if you can find them), our environmental standards (optional), efficiency standards (again optional) etc etc..... how do we put it? She'll be rite....

[@MrLeedebt]

How right you are. The absurdity of building surveyors getting their income from developers.

[@StarkRG]

Lol, I've always wondered why Crown got a bridge-based entrance to their carpark. I figured they'd just gone all out and paid for it themselves to be fancy.

[@drewfoster4607]

Oooo do st Kilda junction! 😍

[@billburnhope2176]

Yes I remember the collapse ! What a cockup!

[@jurassicchrist]

In hindsight the funnelling of private motor vehicles into the CBD has been disastrous folly. We are slowly going back to making the city friendly for PEOPLE but the cult of the car dies hard.

[@icascone]

Wow!

[@mattyjpati]

Hi Phillip, great video!! Just out of curiosity; if the King Street bridge was build in the 1950s... which way did Route 1 travel???

[@philipmallis]

Thank you and good question! As far as I know, Route 1 wasn't designated until the 1950s. I'm unsure if it was done before or after the King Street Bridge was built, but it might have gone across Queens Bridge or the Spencer Street Bridge before that. Yarra Bank Road also used to run along the south side of the Yarra River.

[@xr6lad]

@@philipmallis the Princes highway as a named route has been around since the 1920’s in Victoria. But the OP is right, as to what route it took I’m uncertain. It may well have been Princes bridge as Queens road as a through road didn’t really exist before St Kilda Junction was built so it may have had straight down St Kilda Road into the city from Dandenong road.

[@scana1979]

The National Routes were introduced in 1955 and the original route to the city from Dandenong was to turn right at the St Kilda Junction to St Kilda Road. Back then Dandenong Road bottlenecked into Wellington Street with the trams. The MMBW as Road builders in the city built the Queens Way underpass in 1968 making Queens Road the through route to Kings Way which was itself Hanna Street. The St Kilda Junction project involved the acquisition of over 100 properties.

[@bloggaloggs]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="258">4:18</a> Jean-Luc Godard?

[@bryan3550]

Nice one, Philip. I remember it happening but not the cause. Didn't know J&W were fabricators. Their lifts were clearly much better made..!

[@JamesHawkeYouTube]

Wait, they demolished that glorious "fish market" old world building and we skip over that in a heartbeat?

[@xr6lad]

Remember my dad telling me about this

[@pauloconnor2980]

Do you know the story behind the 'ghost stub' that branches out from Kings Way south bound and abruptly stops above Kavanagh Street???

[@philipmallis]

Good question and well-spotted! I don't know, but having a closer look at it now, I would guess that it is a former off-ramp for traffic wanting to access the former section of Grant Street before Citylink was built.

[@pvda64]

@@philipmallis looking at old Melway maps (Map 43 or 2F) off the Melb Uni web site that stub is not shown and any traffic coming off the bridge to get to Kavanagh St would have to cross over with traffic coming from City Rd towards Kingsway southbound..

[@ronanrogers4127]

Have any bridges collapsed in Sydney, or is it just a Melbourne thing?

[@elipotter369]

The Granville Rail disaster 1977, but was due to poor rail fastenings ao it derailed & the bridge fell on two carriages & killed 83 people. Bridges were all reinforced or design changed after that.

[@servantofgod5642]

Also known as Johns & Nogood.

[@gegemec]

"French New Wave" next to the break. That is interesting. Some intellectual graffiti ? Further, for some reason, I seem to have a memory of Graham Kennedy making an outdoor video recording of comic commentary about the bridge collapse. My memory might be making tricks though. This event was very big news at the time.

[@philipmallis]

You're probably remembering correctly. There was lots of commentary on it at the time.

[@paulthomasunderwood]

The Premier who opened the King Street Bridge, was Henry Bolte. Not surprisingly, it collapsed.

[@kanga1234567]

Up the meds!

[@vsvnrg3263]

you know he was famous enough to have got his face on the shilling coin on the opposite side to the queen.

[@DeMews]

Bolte - got off a DUI head-on accident in 1984 where THREE vials of his blood went "missing". It was alleged that he was 3 times over 0.05.

[@paulthomasunderwood]

@@vsvnrg3263 Prior to 1966, the Australian shilling depicted a rams head. I guess there is a resemblance. No Premiers are depicted on Australian coins.

[@vsvnrg3263]

@@paulthomasunderwood,it was a dad joke in my house.

[@davidandsue2959]

Utah Construction became known as "Utter Destruction"

[@tedsmith6137]

No wonder I had only heard about cracks and not about a "collapse", since it failed but didn't collapse. More by luck than good management but still, not a collapse.

[@philipmallis]

The Royal Commission described it as a collapse www.parliament.vic.gov.au/papers/govpub/VPARL1963-64No1.pdf

[@rockyBalboa6699]

If bridges are not built weak enough to collapse how will the building contractors come back to bill the taxpayers for more money! This is how building corporations make money on public projects! And the funny thing is the builders are complaining the inspectors are too overbearing!!

[@charlespisani9923]

Philip why don't you say the truth Our bus services is a mess do a documentary on Melbourne buses

[@NoTaboos]

The Westgate bridge will collapse again soon due to the huge unplanned weight of the steel suicide fencing recently placed along its entire length.

[@vsvnrg3263]

no taboos, ive seen news reports about the stresses caused by all the heavy trucks shortening its useful life.

[@simonm1447]

For suicide you don't have to go to that bridge, it's enough to ride a bicycle on Toorak road

[@knowthy-selftarot8982]

Thanks for the tip 😂

[@chrisgriffiths2533]

"Stick to the Topic". ?. This Bridge Failure does Not Explain the Current Socio-Economic Structure of Greater Melbourne or Victoria or Australia, in Part it does Explain. The Challenge of Building a Genuine Amazing Large Australian City, Global City is All about Human IQ. Human IQ Not Only Determines the Quality of a Structure but Determines How All the Structures fit Together and How Well that Serves Humanity and Nature. Currently Greater Melbourne Must be Not Allowed to Increase is Built Area. This Will send a Message to the Utah's of Today to Stop Mindlessly Building Outwards and Create Amazing and Safe.

[@paulbata9649]

australian made!🤣

[@knowthy-selftarot8982]

Yeah its always the way 😂

[@rogana5158able]

Shame on you 🤫

[@bennuballbags2]

Nothing has ever been built omn time our within budget in Australia...I swear